The initiative, which is also the first of its kind in the ASEAN region, is a private/public partnership between CMS Consortium, Malaysia Automotive Institute (MAI) and Malaysian Green Technology Corporation (GreenTech Malaysia). Private company CMS Consortium operates under the care of NADI Manufacturing, which is controlled by Proton’s ex-chairman Datuk Seri Nadzmi Salleh. Ex-Proton MD Datuk Seri Syed Zainal Abidin, meanwhile, is COMOS’ executive chairman.

At the programme’s start in August, a total of 30-40 EV units will be made available in a selected number of hot spots in KL. In November, operation is set to expand to Langkawi, with around 25 EVs being deployed on the island. As for public charging stations, 60 locations will be introduced in line with the programme’s introduction this year.

The network will make its way to Penang, Melaka and Johor Bahru as the phases unfold. Eventually, the aim is have 3,500 EVs in the COMOS loop nationwide by 2020. Travelling beyond the range scope of a single charge will also be a possibility – there are plans to have EV charging stations at every R&R along the North-South highway by the fifth year of the programme.

The programme, which had its soft launch yesterday evening in Putrajaya, doesn’t just cover EV car-sharing services but that of fleet management as well as all peripheral and related infrastructures.

In essence, COMOS is set to provide a complete run of E-Mobility services by integrating various parts of the EV ecosystem, including EV users, charging providers, fleet/parking management operators and telecommunication network associates. Initial capital for the project is RM5-7 million.

Vehicle-wise, the cars will be purchased by COMOS, the cost being recouped by rentals as well as through revenue generated by selling advertising space on the cars; there’s lots of potential in what constitutes open branding space on the move, according to Syed Zainal.

Syed Zainal also explained that COMOS is an open system, which means that any OEM can participate in the programme, subject to meeting COMOS’ standard requirements – the three vehicles in the first phase of the programme aren’t likely to be the only models equipping the fleet down the line. Something like the BMW i3 could well figure in the future, perhaps.

A quick aside on the topic of parking space, which is a likely issue to develop in downtown KL – Syed Zainal said that the project was working with DBKL on that particular element; the idea is that every car should have double that number in terms of parking spaces, so for starters there should be 120 plots for the initial phase of the programme. Current EV owners will be able to utilise the charging stations; they’ll have to sign up for a COMOS membership and pay for charging, of course.

As for the rental process, here’s a brief overview of how it works – first, you’ll have to sign up as a COMOS member (you can choose to go annual, or weekly, for membership), and in order to rent an EV, you’ll simply need to make a booking for it online through a mobile app. A grace period of around 20-30 minutes will be given for the reservation, at which point no one else can book the selected vehicle.

Once at the particular COMOS station, the user simply ‘checks in’ to pick up the key for the vehicle, before proceeding to tap a fleet card or scan a QR code on the Master Kiosk for authentication, after which one is good to go. The EV can be returned at any COMOS outlet, parked back at an appropriate EV parking bay and lined back to recharge.

Tapping the fleet card or scanning the QR code again ends the rental and completes the check out process. The transaction is charged by payment for individual users, or by the fleet provider in the case of corporate use, with the user receiving receipt of payment via SMS.

The rental rate is a ‘pay as you use’ type, working on an hourly basis. According to Syed Zainal, there’s no limit to how long you can choose to hold on to a vehicle. As for the hourly rate itself, he didn’t disclose the final sum, only saying that it would be “affordable, a little more than what it would cost you for a taxi.” The actual rate is set to be announced before the programme begins (sometime next month, it was said), and further details on the rental process and scope will also be fleshed out further.

Some notes about the vehicles involved. The Nissan Leaf is no stranger to readers, but the Renault Zoe and Twizy are fresh faces, for sure – both French EVs were making their first public showing in the country at the event. The B-segment Zoe can be viewed as an EV version of the Clio, but unlike the C-segment Fluence EV – which shares its name and general looks with the regular Fluence – the electric Clio has its own look and ‘branding’.

The Zoe is powered by a synchronous electric motor with rotor coil, with 65 kW and 220 Nm of torque for figures. Its official NEDC range is 208 km (130 miles), but the real-world range is around 144 km (90 miles) in temperate conditions.

As for charging, the Zoe comes with Renault’s patented Caméléon charger, which is compatible with all power levels up to 43 kW. Charging batteries at a charging station can take between 30 minutes and nine hours.

The Renault Twizy, meanwhile, is a kind of a cross between a motorcycle and a car, also powered solely by an electric motor. It has four wheels and sits two occupants in tandem, one behind the other like on a scooter or a bike, but wraparound bodywork and side deflectors offer some general protection from the elements (no windows though, so a downpour might be an issue).

The 2.33 metre-long Twizy weighs in at 450 kg, and has an operational range of around 100 km per charge and would be ideal for ‘last-mile’ applications. The lithium-ion battery fully charges in just 3.5 hours using a domestic electrical supply via a spiral cable stowed behind a flap at the front – the plug is a British Standard three-pin unit, and with a draw of around 10 amps, is safe for use in any wall power socket.

There’s of course the conundrum of whether it’s classified as a bike or a car in Malaysia, which will eventually determine what kind of licence you’d need to run it. I posed this question to Syed Zainal, who said that actual classification hasn’t been finalised by the JPJ as yet. He is trying to get it classified as a car, despite the ‘open’ architecture. The results, as well as full details of the programme, as things move closer towards the launch in August. The promise of it all sounds rather electrifying, if you pardon the expression.

Anthony Lim believes that nothing is better than a good smoke and a car with character, with good handling aspects being top of the prize heap. Having spent more than a decade and a half with an English tabloid daily never being able to grasp the meaning of brevity or being succinct, he wags his tail furiously at the idea of waffling - in greater detail - about cars and all their intrinsic peculiarities here.

how would this help reduce traffic and save energy? the person likely to rent this comos car will otherwise take a taxi. this means u’re adding another car on the road with this service burning more energy and adding congestion. note that ev also burns energy which is electricity in that case and that doesn’t help in energy conservation.

to be able to make a difference, you should aim to replace taxis gradually to EVs. that will make more an impact.

For a start they should he a station in KLIA, KLIA2 and then in KLCC, KLSentral, Jalan Bukit Bintang, Jln Sultan Ismail and other major Business areas. Hope this will give our Taxi service a wake up call. (although I pity those honest taxi driver)

As far as the car itself, I think we should limit single users to just the Twitzy in KL or any cities to smoothen up the congestion. To furthur promote such move, gasoline engine cars of a should be slowly ban from certain streets in a scheduled basis, same goes for lorries, pushing people for more ‘actual’ EEV/Alternate energy vehicle or public transportation. Whilst at it, built large amount of Car parks near and around public transportation stops(the one in KL sentral is by all means pethatic) ;European cities are already pushing for this move by 2050 and given the comperitive size of KL, I dont see why it cant be done until than.

Other than that, I am really curious on who this is aim at and how can they maintain it from vandalism(a serious problem in Malaysia) and I am looking at the Twitzy. Other than that, It’s an awesome step to pushing Malaysians to AEV I do hope they have a charging station at every R&Rs on every major highways by 2020….now than Wheres my Tesla Model S?

You mind live in an ideal world somewhere very far from here, but you body is stuck here…after 25 years to promote national car project and dozen of NAPs and billions grant spent, there are still someone like you think thing like this would happen here…

the main problem in major cities in malaysia is heavy traffic jam. i dont find any reason of this implementation of this can lead to a solution of this. instead, it will just make our road become more and more congested. why dont they use the fund to solve this well-known problem? i believe the fund can be used to improve our unreliable public transport system. we can improve the effectiveness and at same time, target for greener public-transport mobility (green bus etc.) this is not something to be proud of. they are making money and we are the one who suffer. full stop.

how about 40 persons drive cars, be it owned or rented compared to 40 person on a bus. which one is more congested? i am stressing about the fund used for this project considering it is funded by government-related bodies (or cronies). should they improve the public transportation first? it doesnt make sense to drive these electric car in our heavy-traffic-jam city.

I went to Paris and London. These two cities both got car sharing and congestions, it works perfectly fine and nobody is complaining. Please open up your mind, i know KL is congested, but not 24/7 congested. You want a city without congestions in this 21st century? Wait to till you die and build you own city in heaven :)

Never mind if it doesn’t work after one year, most of the time they would like it wouldn’t work after one year, they operator get compensation for the loss or simply ask government for more grant or development fees for R&D…

Lolll what a joke. If Proton had launch their EEV first, those stink mouth will say, “Why Proton even bother to design and manufacture an EEV model when their power-windows are still as lousy as ever!” Bolehland typical 3rd world mentality. Everything (everything!) Proton do are wrong and they are the only one that is right and sensible. This country is doomed!

I’m asking because it was reported that Proton obtained many millions in government grants to produce EVs. I’m asking because I pay tax to the government and would like to believe that the government spends tax payers’ money prudently.

I would suggest this be implemented in the city of KL where petrol cars are not allowed to enter the city, people will have to rent these electric vehicles or have electric vehicles to enter KL City, this will be able to reduce the pollution and jam in the city

Uh well,well look whose hear …hum my eyes are drown to Cute Renualt Twizy and the Hot Renault Zoe hum a word to Renault will always be the most creative car brand in whole world .Cheers You French La femme

Renault are famous of circuit board break/melt down on tropical countries. Can’t cope with our country humid & heat temperatures.
When EV problem started to pop out/breakdown on the road,COMOS will definitely start crying & pointing fingers….MARK MY WORDS!!!!

I think they should also partner with some shopping complexes, tourist attractions and hotels. Have these cars there instead. That Langkawi idea is a good start. This kind of system works better with tourists than locals. And we can protect them from some of our ‘examplary’ taxi drivers. Provide a custom GPS as well.

Secondly, Putrajaya, Cyberjaya and such places like TPM should take the initiative to have these stations available there. Have dedicated guarded parking lots surround the place but only EEV cars & public vehicles are allowed within during certain days. Leave that Accordana behind.

Thirdly, I remember there is an EV car that have this ‘cartridge’ system where the batteries can be speedily replaced at stations like AAA batteries in your RCs. You don’t need to wait for hours to replenish the juice. You sort of ‘rent’ the batteries and change for a replenished ones like your cooking gas. Is there an issue with these kind of system as I haven’t seen anybody else implementing it.

I am interested to know how this EV works in KL!
agree to some that our wider/bigger roads are already congested unless only 1 lane is for private cars, 1 for this EV, 1 for bus/taxi. There is also a plan to implement tram services. So the glaring issue will be, are we ready to develop our road infrastructure to 4 lanes in order to support all these? I agree that for longterm sustainability, private cars should pay more to enter city however, not sure if those emergency centres like hospitals/clinics are within reach of these public transport great ideas then. I remember amsterdam city has tram, taxi and buses but less private cars and more bicyles! just a thought.

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